This workshop material is adapted from On the Cutting Edge, a professional development program for current and future geoscience faculty.
Part 1.1 What are the course contexts and constraints
Teaching a course involves making choices about what you will ask your students to do and why. External factors such as context of the course, student demography, and support structure are significant and should influence the choices that you will make as you design your course. Consider the external factors that influence a course and explain why these factors are important to consider before you begin to set realistic goals for the students in your course. Start by choosing a course or a portion of a course to work on.
Task 1.1a: How will your course work?
Answer the questions below. In addition to the facts, comment both on the challenges to designing your course posed by each factor and on the opportunities presented by each factor that you could take advantage of in designing your course.
Does your course serve as a prerequisite for a subsequent course or does it prepare students for a exam? If so, what? No
Challenges: Teacher Resistance to new technology, available tech. in the classroom environment, IT support to ensure available tech is always working, keeping up with tech. change,
Opportunities: more focused, student centred learning, teaching in a 'language' or genre students understand, teachers to become confident in the use of tech. in the classroom environment, easy collaborative learning - not limited to the teacher driving it, or it happening in the classroom, streamlined school management and communication between administrative personnel and classroom teachers. Environmentally friendly (less use of paper), free up time spent face to face in meetings so that more IT training can occur to upskill teachers in staff meeting time as opposed to asking them to give up more time for training, ease of sharing information and tracking what has been shared
Does your course have prerequisites? If so, what are they? NO Challenges: Opportunities:
How big is your course, and what kinds of rooms are available for you to teach in?
Intro is 45 minutes (wet the appetite), but this will be stepping stone to an ongoing training program for teachers. Program will run for the remainder of 2009 with approximately 20-30 minutes of training weekly. The rooms available are from fully set up computer lab through to small group discussion room data projection and internet facilities
Challenges: leading people who learn at different rates and supporting them staff as questions arise. Getting all teachers to utilise the Web 2 technologies not only in communication as staff but as a teaching/learining tool for the classroom.
Opportunities: Small presentation time frames allow teachers to explore the use of these technologies weekly between meetings, modelling use of IT equipment in the various rooms,
Does your course have a lab and/or on-line component, and do you teach it? Yes, it is internet intensive - we have a lab and also internet access points in all classrooms to facilitate this project Challenges: Infrastructure (network), not wireless, addressing any technical problems within a reasonable timeframe, awaiting more powerful servers (possibly upgraded 2009) Opportunities: all teachers using the internet and Web 2 tech., Teacher can transfer newly learned knowledge to their class in the computer lab or alternatively provide a demonstration in their classrooms. Computer lab allows for collaborative learning with the whole class all at once, ability to use Heulab Campus What are your options for frequency and duration of class/lab meeting times? Weekly, 20-30 minutes sessions during staff meeting time
Challenges: All staff being there each time with their laptops
Opportunities: Collaborative learning opportunities for the age and skill spectrum we have in the staff community
Task 1.1b: Who are your students, and what do they need?
Answer the questions below. In addition to the facts, comment both on the challenges to designing your course posed by each factor and on the opportunities presented by each factor that you could take advantage of in designing your course.
Are your students gifted & talented, middle-of-the-road, or learning support? Teachers all at different levels of computer understanding and use Challenges: Maintaining interest for all teachers
. Opportunities: The chance to look at teaching from a different perspective, mentoring and collaboration to build staff competency with the added benefit of staff community building, colleague support, opportunity to set up a buddy system for supporting each other In what way might your students use what they have learned in your course in the future? Design and build teaching and learning activities for their classroom with increased collaboration, which will ultimately lead to less preparation time and a higher interest/motivation from students, personal management and organisation of tools available to make their job easier
Challenges: Personal resistance to change, sense of being overwhelmed
Opportunities: opens a whole new world and way of teaching and learning - arouse personal interest in learning more, What is the demography of students in your course in terms of age, race, gender, and ethnicity? Teachers from 23 - 60 Challenges: Older aged teachers may be resistant because they are soon to leave Opportunities: Colleague sharing across the age range
What percentage of students in your course have high-speed computer access outside the at home?
All have high speed internet access and individual lap-tops Challenges:
Opportunities:
Personal exploration and discovery 24/7 Task 1.1c: What is the support structure for your course?
Answer the questions below. In addition to the facts, comment both on the challenges to designing your course posed by each factor and on the opportunities presented by each factor that you could take advantage of in designing your course.
Are you the default computer troubleshooter, or do students and staff have other support people to turn to if they run into difficulty with a computer problem related to your course?
Presenters of the course will be main trouble shooters
Participants will be encouraged to assist one another to work through problems
Use the internet to solve problems
Challenges: availability of co presenters
Opportunities: Peer assistance which increases learning
discovery of new sites & technologies by seek assistance on the web
Does your school have writing, quantitative literacy, or oral communications skills centres that can provide supplemental help/instruction for students?
A wiki will be provided as a reference and help point for participants with links to sites and web communities for support and assistance
Challenges:
learning how to navigate the wiki
Opportunities:
personal growth/development
allow 'writer' status on wiki so can add more helpful sites
Part 1.1 What are the course contexts and constraints
Teaching a course involves making choices about what you will ask your students to do and why. External factors such as context of the course, student demography, and support structure are significant and should influence the choices that you will make as you design your course. Consider the external factors that influence a course and explain why these factors are important to consider before you begin to set realistic goals for the students in your course. Start by choosing a course or a portion of a course to work on.
Task 1.1a: How will your course work?
Answer the questions below. In addition to the facts, comment both on the challenges to designing your course posed by each factor and on the opportunities presented by each factor that you could take advantage of in designing your course.
Does your course serve as a prerequisite for a subsequent course or does it prepare students for a exam? If so, what? No
Challenges: Teacher Resistance to new technology, available tech. in the classroom environment, IT support to ensure available tech is always working, keeping up with tech. change,
Opportunities: more focused, student centred learning, teaching in a 'language' or genre students understand, teachers to become confident in the use of tech. in the classroom environment, easy collaborative learning - not limited to the teacher driving it, or it happening in the classroom, streamlined school management and communication between administrative personnel and classroom teachers. Environmentally friendly (less use of paper), free up time spent face to face in meetings so that more IT training can occur to upskill teachers in staff meeting time as opposed to asking them to give up more time for training, ease of sharing information and tracking what has been shared
Does your course have prerequisites? If so, what are they? NO
Challenges:
Opportunities:
How big is your course, and what kinds of rooms are available for you to teach in?
Intro is 45 minutes (wet the appetite), but this will be stepping stone to an ongoing training program for teachers. Program will run for the remainder of 2009 with approximately 20-30 minutes of training weekly. The rooms available are from fully set up computer lab through to small group discussion room data projection and internet facilities
Challenges: leading people who learn at different rates and supporting them staff as questions arise. Getting all teachers to utilise the Web 2 technologies not only in communication as staff but as a teaching/learining tool for the classroom.
Opportunities: Small presentation time frames allow teachers to explore the use of these technologies weekly between meetings, modelling use of IT equipment in the various rooms,
Does your course have a lab and/or on-line component, and do you teach it? Yes, it is internet intensive - we have a lab and also internet access points in all classrooms to facilitate this project
Challenges: Infrastructure (network), not wireless, addressing any technical problems within a reasonable timeframe, awaiting more powerful servers (possibly upgraded 2009)
Opportunities: all teachers using the internet and Web 2 tech., Teacher can transfer newly learned knowledge to their class in the computer lab or alternatively provide a demonstration in their classrooms. Computer lab allows for collaborative learning with the whole class all at once, ability to use Heulab Campus
What are your options for frequency and duration of class/lab meeting times? Weekly, 20-30 minutes sessions during staff meeting time
Challenges: All staff being there each time with their laptops
Opportunities: Collaborative learning opportunities for the age and skill spectrum we have in the staff community
Task 1.1b: Who are your students, and what do they need?
Answer the questions below. In addition to the facts, comment both on the challenges to designing your course posed by each factor and on the opportunities presented by each factor that you could take advantage of in designing your course.
Are your students gifted & talented, middle-of-the-road, or learning support? Teachers all at different levels of computer understanding and use
Challenges: Maintaining interest for all teachers
.
Opportunities: The chance to look at teaching from a different perspective, mentoring and collaboration to build staff competency with the added benefit of staff community building, colleague support, opportunity to set up a buddy system for supporting each other
In what way might your students use what they have learned in your course in the future? Design and build teaching and learning activities for their classroom with increased collaboration, which will ultimately lead to less preparation time and a higher interest/motivation from students, personal management and organisation of tools available to make their job easier
Challenges: Personal resistance to change, sense of being overwhelmed
Opportunities: opens a whole new world and way of teaching and learning - arouse personal interest in learning more,
What is the demography of students in your course in terms of age, race, gender, and ethnicity? Teachers from 23 - 60
Challenges: Older aged teachers may be resistant because they are soon to leave
Opportunities: Colleague sharing across the age range
What percentage of students in your course have high-speed computer access outside the at home?
All have high speed internet access and individual lap-tops
Challenges:
Opportunities:
Personal exploration and discovery 24/7
Task 1.1c: What is the support structure for your course?
Answer the questions below. In addition to the facts, comment both on the challenges to designing your course posed by each factor and on the opportunities presented by each factor that you could take advantage of in designing your course.
Are you the default computer troubleshooter, or do students and staff have other support people to turn to if they run into difficulty with a computer problem related to your course?
Presenters of the course will be main trouble shooters
Participants will be encouraged to assist one another to work through problems
Use the internet to solve problems
Challenges:
availability of co presenters
Opportunities:
Peer assistance which increases learning
discovery of new sites & technologies by seek assistance on the web
Does your school have writing, quantitative literacy, or oral communications skills centres that can provide supplemental help/instruction for students?
A wiki will be provided as a reference and help point for participants with links to sites and web communities for support and assistance
Challenges:
learning how to navigate the wiki
Opportunities:
personal growth/development
allow 'writer' status on wiki so can add more helpful sites